


Pizza Joint

by sentimentalscribe



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: First Date, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Pining, Slow Build, Washington D.C., solangelo, sort of, tacky tourists
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-30
Updated: 2015-12-21
Packaged: 2018-05-04 06:01:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 15,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5323187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sentimentalscribe/pseuds/sentimentalscribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will asks Nico to take him to pizza, which somehow turns into a series of dates-that-totally-aren't-dates to DC.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pizza Joint

“I want pizza.”

“That's nice,” Nico said, not really taking his attention off his bow. Will had been teaching him how to shoot an arrow lately and Nico had really taken to it.

“We should go get pizza.”

“Okay.” The son of Hades aimed. “Wait, what?” His arrow flew, landing nowhere near the mark.

“You can shadow-travel.”

“And you have doctorly duties at camp.”

“No one is getting hurt in the next two hours. If they do, they can deal.”

Nico paused. “Only if you pay.”

Will smirked. “What, like a date?” he teased.

The younger demigod choked. “No, like - like I'm broke. Which I am. Let's go.” He held out his arm. Will grabbed on.

And with that it was decided.

In a flurry of shadows, they were gone.

The sun god’s son looked around. He had shadow-travelled with Nico before, but Nico could see it still caught him off guard. It could best be described as the feeling of hurtling through a huge flock of ravens. Also the ravens are trying to kill you with their wings and you have to fight them while also moving towards your destination. It was rough.

After a few seconds that felt like minutes, they had arrived.

“Nico?”

“Yeah?”

“I gotta be honest, I was sort of expecting an actual pizza joint.”

“Well, sorry, but I'm sort of shadow-travelled out for a while. This pizza is great, anyways.”

“But this is… “

“It's great. Plus I know how to haggle.” Nico strode up to the cart.

“If you say so.”

Nico looked up lovingly at the overpriced pizza stand on the street. “I practically lived off these when I lived here.”

“Yeah, another question: where are we?”

Nico turned Will around and pointed.

Will’s jaw dropped. “Is that the literal White House?”

“Yes. I know, it's smaller than you imagined.”

The older demigod’s brows furrowed. “How did you know I was going to say that?”

“Because that's what I always thought. Anyways, there's always good pizza carts near the president’s house for some reason.”

Will stood, starstruck at the massive buildings all around him. What an idiot. Nico cleared his throat. “May I remind the ever-important son of Apollo that he was the one who requested pizza and a way out of camp, meaning he should order before all the tourists get it.”

The starry look in Will’s eyes went away, only to return when he glanced at Nico.

“What? Do I have something in my teeth?” Nico asked, a hand flying to his mouth.

“No. It's nothing,” Will said, the odd look in his eyes gone. He turned to the pizza cart. “Alright, Nico. I’m usually a cheese pizza kinda guy, but do you have any recommendations?”

“All they have is cheese and pepperoni, but if you pay an extra fifty cents he'll cover the entire thing with two layers of mushrooms.”

“Um. Okay. That’s weird.” Will dug out his wallet from his overcrowded pockets and checked the price on the cart’s board. “Eight dollars for two slices of pizza? I can get an entire Little Caesars and breadsticks for that much!”

“Relax, suburbia boy. You just have to haggle until it's two bucks each.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Hand me four dollars.” Nico pushed up his sleeves in mock toughness.

Will obliged.

Will stood back. After a ten-minute negotiation and a lot of yelling in Italian, Nico returned with two slices of pizza and a smug smile. He handed one to Will and immediately dug into his own. “Thanks,” Nico said with his mouth full of pizza.

“For what?”

“You paid.”

“Right. Do you want to sit?” Will offered, motioning to the benches facing the White House.

They sat. Not too close, not too far apart, just enough so that no one felt awkward. It was a little pathetic.

“Isn't it just amazing? Do you think the president is in there right now?” Will marveled.

“I thought you didn't believe in capitalism.”

“Yeah, but it's still pretty cool. Wouldn't it be cool to be the president’s kid?”

“Will, we are literally the children of Olympian gods. I think that wins.”

“Oh yeah. And this pizza is good.”

“See? I would never lead you astray.”

Will looked at Nico funny.

“I mean with pizza. I am a pizza expert,” the son of Hades covered.

“Thanks for bringing me here, Nico.”

“What? I mean, thanks, but-”

“This is way better than Dominos.”

“I agree.”

“Would it - I - could you bring me back here sometime? I could pay again. Maybe see some historical sights. The museums.” Will was shrinking in on himself.

Nico noticed this was going suspiciously far into date territory.

Which is exactly why he said yes and took his final bite of Washington D.C. pizza.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked it, please let me know!! Check out the next chapter where the boys talk about colors and Nico compares Will to a ball of fire. It's all good.


	2. Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys talk about very important things (such as favorite colors).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I decided to make this a recurring thing. No posting schedule yet or maybe ever. Just check for updates, maybe subscribe if you're really invested for some reason. It's all cool. Enjoy!

“Can we go again?”

“Okay,” Nico replied, taking out his sword.

“No, not sword practice. I mean D.C. The museums. The sights. Remember?”

“I have absolutely no memory of that.”

“Stop dodging it. You said you would take me there again and it’s been like, two weeks. That should be enough time to recover from a big shadow jump, in my doctorly opinion.”

“Does your doctorly opinion have sufficient funds to pay for all the touristy crap in D.C.? Because there’s a lot of it and I know you’ll want at least one bobblehead of Thomas Jefferson.”

“I happen to be very good at poker, di Angelo. Trust me, I have won ‘sufficient funds’.”

Nico was conflicted. He had thought it over and reached the conclusion that maybe this wasn’t a good idea. He already knew he had the tiniest bit of a crush on Will after hanging out with him on and off since the war. Would it really be a good idea to go on a bunch of pseudo-dates with him?

Probably not.

“Let’s go.” Oops. Nico smiled in spite of himself. He’d been doing more of that lately - it felt kind of nice.

“Okie dokie, just gimme a sec.” Will checked his pocket for his wallet and Nico held out his arm. Will took it. 

“Did you just say ‘okie dokie’?” Nico asked, incredulous. “Never mind. I don't care.”

Nico closed his eyes and suddenly they were in that swirl of shadow again, fighting through those raven-like things (Nico was never quite sure what they were).

Will’s eyes were closed as he shooed away the birds blindly with his hands. What an idiot.

When they arrived, Solace apparently thought it would be amusing to say, “Houston has landed,” into his hand as if it were an intercom. Nico didn't understand but was secretly also amused.

“Sorry,” Will said, dropping his imaginary intercom and putting his hands in his pockets. “I wanted to do that the last time we got here, but I forgot.”

Nico gave him an exaggerated eye-roll and grabbed his shirt's collar, pulling him along.

Will didn't look surprised. Nico pulled him by his collar a lot.

“Where are we going?” Will asked while being dragged through D.C.  

Nico pointed in the distance. “There.”

“Where?”

“The big white building.”

“They're all big white buildings.”

Nico sighed. “Just follow me.” He let go of Will’s collar, some sentimental part of him mourning the loss of touch. That part of him was stupid and would not be allowed to think anything else ever.

Will’s blond curls bounced a little as he walked. He was looking up at the buildings so much that Nico could have easily tripped him if he felt like it.

Nico hadn't bothered to look around, but now that he did, he couldn't look away. Everything in D.C. was so _big_.

Walking through the streets with his friend, Nico glanced away from the buildings to find Will already looking at him.

“What?” Nico said.

“Nothing. When will we be there?”

“Soon.” Nico looked away.

The walked in silence for a few blocks.

“What's your favorite color?” Will asked.

“You've asked me that before.”

“When?”

“In the infirmary.”

“Yeah, but that was, like, two years ago. You've changed, and I bet your favorite color has too.”

The younger demigod gave Will a long look. “Guess.”

“Okay. Uh, blue.”

“Why do you think that?” Nico cocked his head.

“Because everyone's favorite color is blue.”

Nico looked away from Will and directly ahead at a stop sign. His shoulders tightened.

“What's wrong? Is blue like a trigger or something? I'm sor-”

“Am I everyone?”

There was a pause.

“What?” But then Will just gave a small smile and looked at Nico. “No.”

Silence. Nico could see their destination clearly now.

“It's yellow. My favorite color,” he said.

“Really?” Will looked surprised.

“The color of the sun. The opposite of darkness.”

Will has the look of someone who knew exactly what he wanted to say but wouldn't say it.

What he did say was, “I'm really proud of you, Neeks.”

Nico didn't know why Will was proud, but he'd take it.

He gave Will a once-over. His flip flops were worn from the beach. His hair was sunshine and his smile was a thousand-watt.  It was twenty degrees out and he was wearing a tee shirt and shorts (“I run warm,” he had once said).

That's when Nico realized it.

He didn't need yellow. He didn't need some fiery orb in the sky.

Will was his sun.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said before this WILL be a recurring thing, but I don't have a posting schedule yet to just check back or subscibe or something if you like it. (Spoiler: They're going to the Natural History Museum.) Thanks for the support!


	3. Natural History

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will really likes dinosaurs. Nico really likes Will.

“That is a large museum.”

“What a stunning observation,” Nico replied.

Will started up the steps. “This is sort of ridiculous,” he said. “I mean, it’s the natural history museum. What’s inside? Some plaques about plants?”

Nico laughed. It caught him off guard. “I haven’t been since the forties, but I assure you - it’s way more than that.”

The son of Hades kept climbing the stairs, only to notice his friend had stopped walking. Nico looked back. “You coming?”

Will ran a hand through his hair (which should’ve been illegal) and looked down.

“What?” Nico asked, a little impatient. These stairs weren’t going to climb themselves.

“It’s just that,” Will shook his head and kept climbing. “I dunno, we haven’t really talked about that before.”

“About what?” Nico said, knowing exactly what.

“How you’re like… Captain America or something. You’re old.”

They were nearing the doors now.

“Captain America. No one’s ever called me that,” the younger demigod said.

Nico stopped at a marble pillar and Will followed suit.

“I just - I dunno, it just seems like something you’d talk about more.”

“You know I don’t like to talk about myself.”

Will laughed. “Yes. I do know that,” he said, taking a deep breath. “But doesn’t it bother you? To see how much the world has changed? To come back to this place you used to live?”

“I’ll tell you in a minute.” Nico walked through one of the doors and went through the metal detector. With a quick glance over his shoulder, he saw Will copying his actions.

Once they were through, Will tapped Nico’s shoulder. There was that same electricity again.

“Why didn’t they ask us for money? Do they do that at a desk somewhere? How much is it to get in? I can’t believe I forgot to ask.”

“Relax, sunshine. All the Smithsonians are free. At least, that’s how I remember them.”

“Really? And - wait, I thought the Smithsonian was an art museum.”

“There’s like, nineteen Smithsonians. This is one of them. All of them are free. Got it?”

“Got it,” Will said, nodding. “My wallet just got a lot happier.”

“Good.” Nico nodded, too. “So where do you want to go? There’s mammals over there. Let’s go there.” Nico wanted to keep moving to prevent any awkwardness.

“Okie dokie,” Will said. What an idiot.

They made their way towards the mammals wing.

Will cleared his throat. “So you were going to tell me deep dark secrets about you actually being Captain America. Continue with that.”

Nico gave him a hard stare.

“Sorry, sorry. I’m just curious.”

“If you must know, I don’t really feel weird being back here because I’m different now. Everything is. It’s just enough the same to be familiar, but it’s changed enough that I don’t feel out of place. I don’t know how to describe it,” Nico said, surprised at himself for saying so much. Will was probably annoyed.

They walked into the hall and Will smiled at Nico. “I like knowing things about you. Even if you didn’t explain how you became actual Captain America.” He coughed. “Look! Dead things!”

Nico looked around. Will’s stunning powers of observation were correct once again. They were surrounded by stuffed dead animals, all posed to look like they were alive in their natural habitats. He had forgotten about this part. All the death around him was both repulsive and comforting.

The boys meandered through, Will reading the little plaques for the animals he didn’t recognize. Nico gave the stuffed corpses around him official Son-of-Hades blessings of peace, plus places for their souls in Animal Elysium (Yes, that was a thing. They just didn’t like to talk about it).

“What are you muttering over there?” Will asked from inside the polar bear exhibit.

“Setting these animals’ souls free to live in paradise forever. What are you doing?”

“Learning fun facts about polar bears. Did you know that a pack of them is called a sleuth?”

Nico didn’t know that. But he sighed anyway. “You,” he said. “are an idiot. You know that, right?”

“Yeah. But you’re a moron.”

Nico felt an odd yet comforting sense of familiarity in the conversation. Will had to know by now that if Nico used to mean it when he called the sun demigod an idiot, he didn’t mean it anymore. Now it was just a term of affection, Nico realized. Huh. Affection.

“I’m offended,” Nico replied. He proceeded to give blessings to some seals.

-

There was also a section in the mammals wing full of complete animal skeletons.

After making sure no one was watching, Nico said, “Want to see them dance?”

Will raised his eyebrows. “The tourists or the skeletons?”

“Son of the Underworld here. The skeletons, of course.”

“Do it.”

Nico made the snake spines wriggle and the antelope skulls talk.

“Hi, Will,” said one of the antelope skeletons.

“I changed my mind I changed my mind - please make it stop,” Will rushed.

What a wimp.

There was also a section for human bones. As in ancient human bones. Will was fascinated.

“These have to be as old as the gods,” Nico’s friend said in amazement. “Literally.”

He studied a fracture on the skull he was inspecting. “Hey, Nico.”

Nico looked away from the wall he was reading on evolution. “What?”

“Come here.”

The evolution wall was interesting, but the blond was more interesting. Nico walked to the ancient skulls section where Will was.

“Want me to confuse future scholars for years to come?”

“Do it,” Nico said, not quite sure what Will was going to do but willing to see.

His friend looked over his shoulder and snapped his fingers. A clear, loud sound was heard and Nico could sense that Will had just put Mist over everyone in the vicinity. Impressive.

Then the sun demigod held his hands around the oldest skull and closed his eyes. After a while, a glow of pure light enveloped the skull. When he took his hands away, it was fully mended. No fractures, no cracks, only a few missing bits.

Nico was in shock. “Did you just heal something that’s been dead for millions of years?” He knew Will was good, but not that good.

“I guess,” Will shrugged. “It was actually pretty easy. I didn’t have to worry about keeping it alive like I would a patient, so I could just go for it.”

So Will could heal even dead things. To say Nico found this a little attractive would be an understatement.

There was a game in the evolution hall. It was new, a touchscreen game with three sections. In it, one had to make decisions as if one was the ruler of a large country. Nico grew increasingly frustrated as he failed to keep even one person alive while Will ended up leading a prosperous nation.

“I bet my screen is rigged,” Nico muttered.

Will laughed. “I guess some people just weren’t meant to lead nations.”

“I could raise an infinite army of the undead right now if I wanted to,” Nico said, not really angry but enjoying the banter. Wait, was he really using words like ‘banter’? 

In response, Will just shook his head. “But you wouldn’t do that.”

Nico was at a loss for words for once.

As they wandered through the rest of the exhibit, Nico was just grateful that Will wasn’t the type to make 'homo' sapien jokes.

When they eventually found their way out of the exhibit, Will said, “That was amazing.”

“Wait until you see the dinosaurs.”

Will’s face went blank. “Are you telling me - are there actual dinosaur bones in this building? And you didn’t bring me immediately to them?”

“Yes?”

“Show me. Right now. Go.”

Nico grabbed him by the collar of his shirt again and dragged him through the museum until they were at the dinosaurs.

Will tugged at Nico’s shirtsleeve and muttered, “That’s a real actual dinosaur skeleton. I am in literal shock. Please be prepared to catch me at any moment.”

“What a drama queen,” Nico said, finding all of this much too adorable. Which was unacceptable, as the Ghost King should not find things adorable.

Will got an idea that was apparently very inspiring, because a few lights blew out. “Nico! _Talk to them!_ ” Gods, he was like a giddy puppy.

“They were animals. I can’t talk to them.”

“What about that trick with the antelope skull?”

“That was me projecting words into their souls. It’s complicated and the point is I can’t talk to the dinosaurs.”

“But - okay. I just really love dinosaurs. A lot,” Will said.

“Really? I couldn’t tell.”

Not catching the sarcasm, Will said, “I don’t really tell people because it makes me sound like a five-year-old. But that doesn’t matter right now because _look_! There are actual real dinosaur bones _right there_!”

Nico sighed. “Would you like me to raise some dinosaur bones when we’re back at camp?”

“There are bones under camp?”

“Deep down. It’ll be hard, but I can do it.”

“You’re amazing.”

And then something weird happened. Will hugged him.

Nico wasn’t quite sure what to do. He was in a sort of daze. Was this really happening? Was this much body contact really happening? Was he really not minding?

Will backed away sharply. “I’m so sorry, I forgot about your whole thing with touching, I won’t do it again, I’m sorry-”

“It’s fine. Thanks, but hugging is okay. Just maybe not in the middle of a crowded dinosaur exhibit next time.”

Next time? Why was Nico talking like there would be a next time? Will was probably scared off. He would never want to talk to Nico again. Nico wasn’t quite sure why, but everyone probably hated him now. Oh gods, this was horrible.

But Will, being the magical ray of sunshine he was, just smiled. “Happy to hear that.”

-

The gem exhibit was more beautiful than Nico remembered. Probably because Will was enhancing the lights to make them shine more.

Will said, “Too bad we didn’t bring a camera. Your sister would have loved this.”

Why would Bianca love - oh wait. Will was talking about his half sister. “How do you know Hazel?”

“Whenever she visits, she stops to help at the infirmary. She’s a sweet girl.”

“She is,” Nico agreed. “Do you want to see the Hope Diamond?”

“Like in Titanic?”

“That would be the Heart of the Ocean.”

“Oh yeah. Hey, were you around for the Titanic?”

“That was about twenty years before I was born, but nice try.”

They walked in silence until they reached the diamond. Will had been expecting a little more. Nico was just happy to be around the precious gems. And to be around Will for as long as he had been.

-

**  
  
**

The space exhibit was new.

“Nico! You can touch a piece of Mars!”

“What?”

“Come over here right now!”

Nico left the vial of literal stardust he had been inspecting and walked over to Will. “What about Mars?”

“You can touch a piece of Mars rock!” 

It was true. A small reddish stone from Mars sat inside a glass box with a hole in it so people could touch it. Nico tried to act like that wasn’t the most amazing thing he had ever heard. “I can practically hear Ares making dirty jokes,” he said instead.

“Shut up and touch the Mars rock.”

Nico put his hand through the small opening in the Mars box and let his fingers run over the rough rock. He was more than a little in awe.

Nico pulled his hand away.

“You said you like knowing things about me, right?”

“Of course,” Will replied.

Nico took a deep breath. “I didn’t know we had landed on the moon until today.”

Will paused. “What?”

Nico crossed his arms. “I guess it never came up in conversation. They didn’t cover it at Westover Hall. I guess it was too obvious.” He was getting a little frustrated. He couldn’t figure out why, but this felt like a big deal.

“Wow. That makes sense, though. People don’t necessarily talk about it a lot.”

 _I feel like such an idiot_ , Nico wanted to say. Instead he just shrugged and kept walking. “I’m tired,” he said. “We should head back soon.”

After Will bought a few dinosaur key chains from the gift shop, they shadow-traveled back to camp.

There was one problem: When Nico got tired, his shadow-travelling aim got worse.  

They landed smack-dab in the middle of the mess hall during dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how often I'll be updating this, but right now it looks like it's going to be pretty often with short chapters. Thanks for reading thus far!


	4. Fashionably Late

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miscommunication = sad puppy Solace.

Nico’s first thought was to shadow-travel again to anywhere but there. But he had already animated some skeletons and travelled across states twice that day; he was too weak to travel again.

That left him with the less appealing option, which was to survey the surroundings and come up with a way to not get in major-league trouble.

First: He had just shown up in the middle of the mess hall. Okay.

Except dinner was in full swing. Less okay.

He and Will were standing arm in arm (for shadow-travelling purposes). Very okay.

Everybody could see them. Not okay. His first course of action was to pull his arm away.

 _See how simple this is?_   He told himself.  _Get the information and make an action. It’s not hard._

Second: They were standing by the Poseidon and Hermes tables. Okay.

Except lately the Poseidon table had become the place to sit for everyone without a lot of siblings, like the teens in the prophecy. Which was about everyone he knew. Probably not okay.

The Hermes table was already sniggering. What were they laughing at? Not okay.

Third: Chiron was staring at them from the head table, veggie burger in hand, eyebrows raised. He was standing up and trotting towards them. A chorus of “Ooo, somebody’s in trouble” rang from the Hermes table. Chiron drew closer.

_Abandon all reason and get Will out of this confrontation as soon as possible?_

_Sounds like a plan._

The camp director crossed his arms. “Well?” was all he had to say.

“It was my idea,” said both of the boys. Nico glared at Will. “I’m trying to save your skin, sunshine,” he hissed.

“Likewise,” Will whispered back. He addressed the centaur. “Chiron, this is a big misunderstanding. Nico just realized we were late for dinner so we shadow-travelled across camp to get here faster.”

That was… Actually pretty good.

“Yeah,” Nico agreed.

Chiron was watching them both with an air of bemusement. “I was just going to say that I'm glad you're able to shadow-travel again, Nico. You're making great strides.” He turned away and walked to the head table with Mr. D, pausing to say, “And we’re all very glad you value camp activities so strongly.” He smirked.

What in Hades was that old horse so amused with? He had seen through their lie, Nico knew it. Why had he let them get away with it?

He and Will exchanged blank looks and joined their respective tables. Nico ate dinner with the prophecy kids. Their questions were insufferable.

“Where were you really?” asked Annabeth.

“Yeah,” Percy added. “Was it fun?”

“You’re so lucky to have a way out of camp!” Piper exclaimed.

Jason shushed them all. “He doesn’t have to tell anybody anything.” Then, in Nico’s ear: “So seriously, where were you?”

“Shut up, guys. Will and I were just hanging out.”

“Oh, sure,” Piper said. “Just guys bein’ dudes.” She laughed, a clear sound that made everybody stop for a minute and appreciate how beautiful life was. Then they all carried on, as this was a usual occurrence.

Nico considered telling them the truth, but then Percy said, “Right. Guys bein’ dudes. With each other. No homo. At all. Not even in the slightest.”

The son of Hades’ face erupted in a fiery blush. He didn’t mind that his friends knew he was gay (It turned out Piper had known all along; something about “Aphrodite gaydar”), but telling them about his crush on Will was a little more honesty than he cared to give out. Also, he was reasonably sure that some of the Apollo kids had unnaturally good hearing and might have been listening to everything Nico said.

“It’s none of your business,” he covered. “And it’s not like that, Percy. Not at all.”

“Okay, fine, sorry. Just trying to have some fun,” the sea demigod said, raising his hands in a ‘don’t shoot’ way.

Still annoyed, Nico stabbed at his green beans and chewed them with anger.

“He looks like a murderous puppy,” Piper whispered to Jason. Jason tried not to laugh.

Nico ignored them like the dignified ghost king he was.

-

“And we’re all very glad you value camp activities so strongly,” said Chiron.

Will tried to wave ‘bye’ to Nico as they walked to their respective tables, but the other boy had already turned away. While Nico had a short little walk to his table full of war heroes, Will had to trudge all the way across the mess hall to reach the Apollo kids, feeling the stares of literally everybody on him as he passed each table. At the large table, his brothers and sisters had cleared a spot for him to sit. He was grateful. His siblings were so sweet when they weren’t cursing him or shooting arrows out the cabin windows.

As soon as Will sat down, he was bombarded with questions.

“Where did you go?”

“You lied to Chiron? That takes guts.”

“Why was the ghost kid with you?”

Will put a finger to his lips to say “Shh.”

“I will tell all you lovely children in good time. However, I have not eaten since breakfast and I need food. Someone hand me a drumstick.”

One of his sisters obliged and he took a bite. The entire table was still silent and leaning towards Will, watching and waiting.

A little uncomfortable, Will wiped his hands on his jeans and said, “Okay. So the ghost kid and I - his name is Nico, by the way. We’ve been hanging out since the war, how do you not know his name? - Anyway, Nico and I went to D.C.. The Natural History Museum, to be exact. It was amazing and magical and I got to see dinosaur bones.” He held up his souvenir keychains.

Everybody at the table cheered. They were a great crowd.

“Did you see the White House?” someone asked.

“That was last time,” Will answered. “When we went to get pizza.”

“Pizza? Museums? Are you guys dating or something?” one of his brothers asked.

A sister gasped. “Is Nico the guy you’ve been talking about? The one you like but won’t tell us who?”

“Well-” Will stalled.

“Oh gods, he is!” the same sister went wide-eyed. “Will is totally in love with Ghost Boy!”

Will gave her a meaningful look. “Gee, how about you say it a little louder?” Then he pointed a stern finger at her. “And don’t call him that.”

He sat up a little straighter so he was able to get a glance of Nico.

His brother with precision hearing saw Will peering over to the hero’s table and piped up, “Dude, he’s probably telling his friends all about your date right now. Want me to listen?”

“The thing is,” Will looked around the table in apprehension. “He didn’t exactly know it was a date. And he’s probably straight anyways. It’s a bit of a lost cause.” he cringed, realizing how pathetic he sounded. But it was true. Nico was one of those types that could really have gone either way, or both, but with Will’s luck he was straight. Or aro-ace, more likely. He did have that whole ‘no touching unless necessary’ thing. Was that an aro-ace thing? Will was too distracted to remember.

After a long pause, Will’s brother said, “Oh. Do you want to listen in anyway?”

An intense moral battle waged inside Will. It would be wrong to invade Nico’s privacy, but it would be worth it if he could find out how Nico felt about him. “Go for it,” he said to his precision-hearing brother.

His brother closed his eyes and started translating. “Okay, so Percy Jackson is making some sort of joke about homos, but he seems to be saying it all ironically so don’t get mad, Will.”

Will rolled his eyes.

His brother continued. “And now - wait. Let me focus. Now the ghost kid is saying, and I quote, ‘It’s none of your business. And it’s not like that, Percy. Not at all.’”

The table fell into an awkward silence.

Will could almost hear his heart sink. He couldn't say he was surprised, but he had honestly thought he had picked up a few signals from Nico when they were out and about in D.C.. Hadn’t those days practically been dates? Apparently he was garbage at reading signals.

It hurt to know that Nico could just casually tell his friends that there was no emotion there, as if Will was just some guy he hung out with every now and then. As if they hadn’t been borderline best friends for the past two years.

“Well,” Will said with fake nonchalance. “That’s that. No more wondering.”

Everybody was looking at him with pity. Will hated when people took pity on him. He was a healer, for Hera’s sake. He was supposed to be the one with sympathy for everyone else!

“I’m going to bed early,” Will said, defeated.

He walked slowly back to the Apollo cabin in the dark, kicking a few rocks with his shoe along the way. The cabin was always heated, but that night it felt chilly. He settled into bed, wondering how he could have been so stupid as to think the son of the underworld would ever need the sun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try to update soon! Thanks for reading (and I live off comments btw)!


	5. Sad Puppy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will is sad and Nico grows up a little.

There were some days when Nico stayed in bed all day. This was not meant to be taken figuratively; he had special permissions to do whatever he wanted most of the time. One of the only conditions was that he had to stay in camp. Oops.

As Nico contemplated whether or not that day would be a sleep-all-the-time kind of day, there was a sharp rap on his door.

“What?” he yelled at the door.

Who would need him this early? It was only noon. Very early.

Maybe it was Will. Maybe Will wanted to go out again. Maybe he wasn’t mad about the whole mess hall landing thing. Maybe he was going to ask to be boyfriends.

Nico bounded to the door. Except instead of shaggy blonde curls, he saw choppy brunette braids.

“Oh. Hi, Piper.”

“What did you do to Solace?”

“Huh?”

“You heard me.”

“Um, I showed him Washington, I guess - I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Piper nudged past him to let herself in. “Side note: I like the vibe in here. Did you redecorate?

“Last year.”

“Oh. I guess we just never all hang in here because I thought you still had all those skulls everywhere. Glad those are gone.”

“Thanks. I think.” Nico was still a little wary of being alone in the cabin with Piper. He didn’t want someone to see and tell Chiron and have everybody think there was something going on. That scenario probably wouldn’t happen, but he always thought it was best to think the worst and be pleasantly surprised.

“Okay, back to the point. Solace is acting like someone shot his puppy and it’s because of you.”

“What? Why? How is it my fault?” Nico felt a little attacked.

Piper put her hands on her hips. “Since you don’t seem to get what’s going on, I will take the burden of telling you myself. Listen, kid-”

“Don’t call me ‘kid’,” Nico grumbled.

“Listen, champ,” she corrected, making Nico grumble a little more. “I happen to be the daughter of love incarnate. I know when people like other people, right?”

Nico got a little nervous. How much did she know?

“Right. So I’m talking with Solace just now and, like I said, murdered puppy look and all that. I ask him what’s up, why he’s looking so down, and he kinda brushes me off, but in that super polite way that you were really never good at.”

He thought of protesting, but she was right. Piper sat down criss-cross applesauce on the cabin floor and Nico followed suit, as it felt weird to be standing while she sat.

“I’m sorry he’s feeling down, but what about this justifies you breaking into my room?”

“I was getting to that. Sheesh, Nico, be patient.” Piper smiled. “So I ask him what’s wrong, no answer, yada yada. Now, I don’t like it when the guy Nico likes is sad, so I-”

Nico got one of those full-face blushes. “I don’t like Solace! I mean Will. I mean - he’s my friend.”

“Please stop interrupting and also note that I know who everybody likes. You can’t lie to me. Anyway, I used my mystical Aphrodite powers to see what was getting his goat and the only mystical answer I got was you. So fess up, loverboy.”

Still blushing, Nico thought hard. Had he done anything that would make Will sad? Will had seemed fine when they shadow-traveled to the mess hall. Maybe Nico had called him an idiot one too many times. He really should have cut back on that.

“I don’t know. I can’t think of anything I’ve done that would warrant the dead puppy look.” He really couldn’t.

“Are you sure?” Piper didn’t look convinced.

“Yeah. I wouldn’t hurt Will.”

Where had that come from? Did he really just say that? Had he really just meant it?

Piper’s gaze softened. “I know you wouldn’t, buddy. That’s why we need to get to the bottom of this. You need to ask him what’s wrong.”

“But I haven’t even seen him today!”

“Yeah, I know. You’ve been snoozing while we’ve all been rock-climbing. Come on, I know this has something to do with you.”

“Why do you care?” Nico asked.

“I like it because it’s like a personal soap opera where I get to talk to the characters. And you’ll get to spend time comforting Will! It’s a win-win.”

Nico’s ears were red from blushing at this point. “Please don’t tell anyone,” he said quietly.

“About what?”

“That - that I like Will.” He cringed.

Piper’s smile turned sympathetic. “Dude, I totally won’t. Scout’s honor. Besides, if I went around spouting details about everyone’s love lives, I’d be kicked out of here for sure.”

That at least made Nico smile.

“See you out there in ten?” Piper asked.

Nico considered. He couldn’t immediately think of any negative outcomes of saying yes. “Okay.”

Piper stood up and waved goodbye. “Ten minutes, Nico. I’m serious.” She closed the door behind her.

Nico trudged to his bathroom and got a look at himself in the mirror. He looked like death. Which was fine normally, but didn’t quite cut it if he was about to go out and comfort his crush. He took an impossibly fast shower, changed his shirt from one with skulls on it to a Camp Half-Blood one, and looked in the mirror one last time before he left. Nico checked the clock; it was eleven minutes past when Piper left.

The worst thing about the Hades cabin was that as soon as he walked out of it, the Hermes cabin was right there in front of him. Meaning that he had to check for trip wires and booby traps every single time he left his room. Not his favorite thing to do every morning, but a necessity of life.

As Nico maneuvered around the various pranks and traps set out for him, he contemplated what he would say when he saw Will. It’s not as if Will was really upset about Nico. Piper had to have been confused. How should he approach his friend? Should he be quiet and understanding or cheerful and distracting?

It didn’t really matter what the answer was, because he forgot it as soon as he saw Will. He was playing volleyball with some of the other Apollo kids and had just spiked the ball when he turned and saw Nico. His whole face crumpled for a moment, then sprang back into a half-smile.

What was going on? Nico thought it best not to interrupt the game, but Will seemed to have other plans. He walked out of the the court to meet Nico halfway.

_Alright, Nico. Just be cool._

“So Piper said you were sad. What’s up?”

_That was not cool, di Angelo!_

Will looked a little taken aback. “What? No, I’m not sad. Why would Piper say that? Just having fun with my siblings. And all that.” He gave a nervous laugh.

Looking over Will’s shoulder, Nico saw the entirety of the Apollo cabin watching them with anticipation. Weird.

As much as he hated talking about feelings, Nico felt like he should press the topic.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course,” Will said. “Well, I don’t know. Can we talk?”

“O-okay.” Nico’s silent panic mode was officially activated.

The boys walked in sync to the steps of the Apollo cabin and sat. Nico tried to pretend the rest of campers weren’t watching them, even though they all were for some reason.

Will sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Normally Nico would be swooning, but there were more important matters to deal with right then. But he did swoon a little.

“So, what’s wrong?” Nico prompted.

“I don’t know,” Will said. “Yes I do. It’s just something really stupid and embarrassing.”

“You’re sounding like me.”

That got a smile out of Will. “No, you usually sound whinier.”

“Watch it. Only I can make fun of me.” Nico was glad to have that fun back-and forth even when things were tough.

“Fine. It’s just that -  well, the short version is that I found out the person I like doesn’t like me back. And I’m being too dramatic about it. That’s all.”

The world went slow. “Oh,” Nico replied, unsure of what to say and more than a little crushed.

“I know. It’s stupid.”

“No it’s not, I just don’t know how to comfort people.” So Will had liked someone else this whole time. Of course. This was just typical. His brain threw a silent temper tantrum.

“You don’t have to comfort me,” Will said. He put on an obviously fake smile. “I’m fine.”

As much as Nico hated that he wasn’t the one Will liked, he wouldn’t stand to see his friend miserable.

“Remember all those times after the war when I said I was fine and you wouldn’t listen because you knew better?”

Will’s eyes met Nico’s. “I remember. Why?”

“Because that’s what your ‘I’m fine’ sounds like to me.”

The son of Apollo didn’t respond for a while. Then he asked a question.

“Are hugs okay?”

Nico smiled. “Hugs are okay.”

Will nearly tackled him. Nico let Will bury his nose in his collar and it might have been the first real hug Nico’d had in years. Even if he wasn’t the object of Will’s desire, maybe friendship was enough; it could be a start. He wrapped his arms a little tighter around his friend. Will was warm and bright and everything Nico needed.

With a start, Nico realized he might be everything Will needed, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thanks for reading! I love comments so much; even if you've already commented it means so much. :)


	6. Early Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico is not a morning person.

Will woke up that that horrible ’Friday’ song stuck in his head. And it was only Thursday.

He turned over in his bunk, letting the memories of the previous night wash over him. He had just resigned himself to being only friends with Nico and had made peace with that, but then that moron had to go and say that hugs were okay.

They had hugged before, in the dinosaur exhibit, but that hadn’t counted. He hadn’t noticed then how warm Nico was. Some part of Will had expected him to be ice cold like a vampire or something. That fact that he was putting this much thought into something as completely innocent as a hug was a little odd to him, but the point was that his friend had been kind when Will was in need.

But friend he would remain. And if Will had been okay with that the night before, he sure wasn’t now. The only problem was that he didn’t know how to win the heart of a ghost king. Or if Nico was straight.

But no one could say Will Solace wasn’t persistent. He had pestered Nico about coming to the infirmary for six days solid after the war; Nico had eventually mumbled something in Italian and allowed himself to be led to a hospital bed.

He was going to pull out all the stops. That stupid underworld kid was going to like him one way or another.

If only he could muster the energy to get out of bed.

Will was a morning person. Most Apollo children were. However, he was not a ‘getting up’ person. It was only after much effort and concentration that he managed to sit up. At least the cabin was permanently heated so that he wasn’t cold in the mornings. Will climbed down the ladder, still blinking sleep from his eyes.

He had a bunk to himself, seeing as he was head counselor, so he used the bottom bunk to store his duffel bags and various keepsakes. Right then, though, all he needed was a toothbrush and a clean shirt.

The rest of the cabin was either already out and about or still sleeping. Will left quietly, taking care not to close the door too hard.

Turning right and breathing in the cool morning air as he walked, Will realized he had no idea what he was doing. Was he going to the Hades cabin? It was right in front of him now, so apparently he was. What would he do once he reached it?

Looked like he was about to find out. When he reached the door, he knocked. No answer. He knocked louder. Still nothing.

What was he doing? He should turn back.

For some reason, Will rapped even harder on the door. What was he doing this for?

“I don’t need love advice, Piper!” Nico shouted from inside.

“What?” Will hadn’t been expecting that. And why was Nico needing love advice from a daughter of Aphrodite? He waited for his friend to answer.

Finally, he heard footsteps and several grumbled Italian phrases that were probably long strings of curse words. Adorable.

The door swung open violently. In the doorway stood a tiny yet murderous Nico.

“Will?”

“That’s me.” Will was starting to regret his decision to come there. Nico wasn’t a ‘getting up’ person _or_ a morning person.

“I swear to every god out there that I will skin you alive. Do you realize what time it is? Do you?”

“It’s six, it’s not that early-”

“I wake up at ten! At the earliest! Wha-” Nico took a deep breath. “I value my sleeping time very much, Solace. Please tell me you have a good explanation as to why you’re here.”

“Uh,” Will stammered. Why had he done this? Oh, right. To spend time with Nico. “I just thought we could-” What could he say? What did they like to do together? Archery lessons? “-go to DC again. You know. Before all the tourists are out.”

Okay. That worked. Will prayed Nico was feeling apologetic.

-

Nico couldn’t decide whether Will was the most amazing person in the universe or the stupidest. Possibly both. Eventually, though, he decided that his friend was just trying to be nice. Even if he was interrupting Nico’s valuable sleep time.

Seeing Will at his door, hair messy but perfect and eyes sparkling, any notion he’d had of keeping things platonic the previous night went out the window. He would find a way to get this boy, even if he liked someone else. The problem was that he had no idea how to do that. The only idea he could think of was to go to D.C. again, as Will had just suggested. And maybe he should try to be more open. Will was a very open person and therefore probably would be more attracted to people who told him things.

“Nico?”

The son of Hades realized he had been silent for an uncomfortable amount of time.

He said, “You’re lucky that I really want to see some Renaissance art, Solace.”

-

****  


Will was wholly relieved. “Thanks for not skinning me alive.”

“Any time.” They both smiled.

“Are we going to an art museum?” Will asked, thinking that was the case but not positive.

“Yeah. The National Gallery of Art. But not right now; I can’t shadow-travel when I first wake up. I need coffee first.”

Will sat on one of the empty beds. “But camp doesn’t serve coffee and breakfast isn’t for another few hours,” Will said.

“That’s why I make my own.” Nico pointed to an espresso machine in the corner of the room, tucked away near an outlet.

“How did you get an outlet in your room?” Will was impressed.

“Long story. Anyway, do you want any?”

“I don’t do caffeine, but thanks,” Will said, a little distracted. He hadn’t really focused on it before in all his nervousness, but Nico’s bedhead was perhaps the most attractive thing he had ever seen. His thick black hair stood up in every direction and created a sort of dark halo around his head. As Nico went about making coffee, Will could see marks on his cheeks from the folds on his pillowcase and he noticed the dark circles under Nico’s eyes weren’t as deep in the morning.

The demigod in question finished making his espresso and sat on the bed next to Will. There was something strangely domestic about the whole situation. Will liked it a lot.

“The museum is amazing,” Nico said, derailing Will’s train of thought. “There’s a lot of sculptures of Greek and Roman gods. And the landscapes are amazing. So are the portraits. I really like it.”

This was weird. Nico never told Will things about himself unless he had to. But here he was, gushing about an art museum. Something was going on.

“That’s cool,” Will said warily.

“You’re paying again, right?” Nico asked.

“Aren’t these museums free?”

“They are, but I’m going to want food.”

The gears in Will’s head kept turning. “Huh. Almost like a date.” He laughed for good measure to show that he wasn’t serious. Even though he was very serious. It was complicated.

Nico looked a little panicked. Probably because he didn’t like Will and thought he was being weird. He furrowed his brows and said, “It’s like I told you before. I’m just really broke.”

And that was that.

Nico took the last swig of his coffee and held out his arm. Will would have been lying if he said he didn’t drink in every second his arm was on Nico’s.

Nico closed his eyes and they disappeared into shadow. Fighting through the shadow-traveling bird things was almost routine now.

When they arrived, Will looked up to find a building that looked more like a miniature white house than a gallery. In awe once again of all the grandeur around him, he was speechless.

Nico looked at him funny. Probably friendly affection. Nothing more.

Will realized their arms were still linked. As much as it pained him to break away, he knew he had to if he didn’t want to look weird. Their hands brushed on the way apart and Will felt a small dose of actual electricity. A shock. Nico looked unaffected, though.

As they craned their necks to see the whole building, Nico said something Will couldn’t have anticipated.

“Thank you for waking me up, Will.” He seemed to be avoiding Will’s gaze.

“Oh. Um, thank you,” the sun of Apollo said, not knowing what to make of what his friend had said.

“I would’ve still been asleep for another six hours.”

Will laughed. “Well, it’s good to be awake. You get more out of life that way.” He wasn’t sure what he was saying.

Nico gave him a look. I wasn’t a mean look or a scared look or even a bored look. It was something else he couldn’t place.

It was then that Will started to think his feeling might be mutual.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I love you guys and also comments. I love those too.


	7. National Art Gallery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico and Will go to the National Art Gallery. Pining and hand-holding ensue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a more than DOUBLE LENGTH chapter, folks! That's right, the others have been about 1200 words apiece but this one is 2700 words. Thank you for sticking around for chapter 7 and enjoy the awkward hand-holding.

Nico was a little nervous. Will was staring at him weird.

“What are you looking at?” he asked.

“Me? What about you?” Will replied. The strange look in his eyes was gone.

“I wasn't doing anything,” Nico said, surprised.

“Never mind. Can we go in?”

Nico nodded. "Fine." They strolled through the giant columns and past the doors. There was another security system in there, much more high-tech than he remembered. Will had to take his wallet out of his jean pocket; the metal detector was having a fit at all the coins. Nico wondered if, had he brought a sword with Mist covering it, whether the detectors would sense it or not.

When he voiced this question to Will, he said, “Nico, you are the world’s next great philosopher.”

Nico rolled his eyes, a little flattered despite knowing it was a joke. “I'm honored. And I haven’t been here in a while. Do you see any maps?”

Will didn't respond. He had apparently noticed the grandeur of everything in the museum.

“This isn’t a museum, it’s a fancy mansion with a lot of art!” he exclaimed.

Watching Will look around in wonder with sparkling, hopeful eyes made Nico want to grab his hand and drag him to the paintings. He did the next best thing, which was taking hold of Will’s Camp Half-Blood shirt collar and pulling him along.

It seemed the blond was used to this, but as he followed Nico he asked, “Why do you always do that?”

Aha. Nico saw a visitor center that probably had maps. “Do what?” he asked, distracted.

“Pull me by my collar. I don’t mind, but wouldn’t it be easier to grab my arm?”

 _Because this way I get to feel my hand graze against your neck_ , Nico thought.

“I don’t know. Maybe I keep hoping I’ll choke you,” he said instead.

Will snorted. “Thanks.”

They reached the visitor’s center. Nico realized he would have to have to talk to a stranger for a map. He really didn’t like strangers. He let go of Will’s collar and whispered, “Can you ask for a map?”, expecting some sort of protest.

“Okay,” Will said without a thought. He approached the bitter old woman behind the desk and asked for two maps. She grunted and pointed to a stack of them on a different table.

When Will returned, he handed one of the folded papers to Nico.

“Thanks. But why did you get two?”

The son of Apollo looked at him like it was obvious. “In case we want to split up.”

Oh. “But I like being with you,” Nico said and immediately regretted. Why had he said that? Had he for some reason thought flirting was a good idea?

Will looked confused but pleased. “Well, thanks, Nico. I like being with you, too.”

An awkward silence followed. Nico could feel a blush coming on.

Will coughed. “So should we go see some art?”

“Yeah. Let’s do that,” Nico said, glad to have a change of topic.

They checked their maps and Will asked, “Why are there so many sections color-coded with identical shades of pink?”

Nico looked down at his own copy. “Those shades of pink are very clearly different.”

“What are you, an HGTV host?”

“What’s HGTV? Is is a disease?”

“It’s a home renovation show. And - never mind. The point is the colors are the same.”

Nico hated that he couldn’t talk about pop culture like HGTV with Will. He knew the internet was a source where he could find answers, but there was no connection at camp.

“Where do you want to go first?” Nico asked.

“Wherever you want.”

“But I asked you.”

“And I’m saying I don’t care. Choose.”

Nico closed his eyes and pointed to a random spot on the map. “There.”  
“Thirteenth to sixteenth century Italian.” Will read the type of art. “Hey, just like you!”

Nico lightly punched his friend’s arm. “I’m not that old.”

“How should I know that? You’ve never told me about all that.”

“Whatever,” Nico said, fully aware that he was avoiding the subject. “You have yet to unlock my full backstory.” He started walking towards the Italian art, following the map.

Will followed but didn’t drop the subject. “What do I have to do to reach that level?”

“I don’t know. Look at the art, Will. Be in awe. Don’t worry about me.”

Will didn’t respond.

They reached the wing they were looking for. Walking around, Nico said, “I feel like I should be connecting to this more than I am.”

Will, however, was captivated. “Can you believe people painted all this? I can barely do a decent landscape and this guy over here in the thirteenth century is all talented with his mad art skills!” he gestured to one of the paintings. He looked like a five year old let loose in a candy shop. Nico was just glad he had dropped the whole ‘backstory’ issue.

“C’mon, there’s so many rooms to see!” Will exclaimed, grabbing Nico’s hand and pulling him along.

For a second, it seemed so natural Nico didn’t think anything of it. But then his brain short-circuited. Will’s hand? Around Nico’s? Was this happening? Nico was sort of in shock but was definitely okay with it.

In the next room, Nico tried to focus on the amazing art all around him but was too distracted by the warm hand still in his. He had expected Will to drop it and pretend like it hadn’t happened once they reached the next room, but he was still hanging on. What did it mean? Maybe this was something all straight boys did in the twenty-first century. That was probably it.

“What do you think of this one, Nico?” Will asked. Nico noticed he was a little shaky, a little nervous.

Nico glanced up at the painting and blinked a couple times. It was amazing. There were a few art students behind them, trying to get closer to it so they could take notes. But Will and Nico wouldn’t move. Will was too busy staring at the art and getting uncomfortably close to the brush strokes.

Nico realized they were still holding hands. It had seemed so natural he had forgotten about it. Their fingers weren’t laced, so it could have been a brotherly thing if Will hadn’t held it so long.

But as Will walked from one painting to the next, his grip eventually lost Nico’s hand and made no effort to get it back.

They exchanged a quick look but didn't say anything other than the occasional remark about the art.

Eventually they stopped using the map and wandered to their heart’s content instead. Will talked enthusiastically about colors and Nico thought about the ghost of the hand that had been on his.

There was one painting that they both had to stop and stare at for a solid ten minutes. It covered almost an entire wall. In it, there was an army, it seemed, maybe only a group of people. An enormous rock or mountain jutted out from the earth. There were cities in the background, painted to seem far away and covered with mist, as if a fog had passed over all the unimportant things. Sunlight poured from the heavens, making Nico marvel at how that effect had been achieved using paints. At the same time, the painted sky loomed as if it were descending upon the crowd. The people were such a tiny part of this massive painting - Nico wondered why the artist had gone to all the trouble of painting such a huge landscape around them.

“I wonder what it means,” Will mused.

Nico didn’t really care what it meant; he could only think of how beautiful the colors were. How epic it felt.

“What are the people doing? Who’s that one on the hill with his sword raised?” Will continued.

“I think it’s Joshua. And I’m getting the feeling he’s commanding the sun to stand still upon Gideon,” Nico deadpanned.

“That was… weirdly specific,” Will said. eyebrows knit together in confusion.

Nico pointed at the artwork’s small name plaque. The title: “Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon Gideon”.

“Oh,” said Will.

When they finally moved on from the painting and back to the main rotunda, Will laughed. It was a bright sound, full of humor and warmth, and it echoed around the cold gallery. Nico was almost too distracted by the way Will’s face lit up to ask what the outburst was been about.

But Nico did ask, saying, “What was all that?”

“What you said back there - I just realized it was really funny.”

“What did I say?”

“About Joshua commanding the sun. It sort of summed up your sense of humor, I think. And it was excellently executed, no giggles or anything. I applaud you.”

“I didn’t really think it was that funny.”

“Well, I did. Thanks for the laugh, di Angelo.” Will ruffled his hair.

Nico pretended to be annoyed. “That’s my hair and I don’t appreciate it being ruffled,” he grumbled.

“Wait, really? I’m sorry, I won’t do it again.” the son of Apollo immediately looked panic-stricken.

“No, I mean - I don’t mind, I was just joking.”

“Okay. It’s just that I know for the past few years you’ve had the no-touching thing but I sort of broke it with the hugs, and the,” Will paused. “And the hands. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t pushing it.”

Nico bowed his head and shuffled his feet, deciding what to say and eventually choosing to voice what he felt for once. “I don’t really mind anymore.” He met the other boy’s eyes. “At least with you. If a gorgon tries to give me a hug, though, I can’t make any promises,” he said, trying to lighten the mood. He smiled. Being honest didn’t feel as bad as he thought it would. In fact, he felt a little lighter. And maybe he was killing two birds here: being truthful was good, plus Will might like him more if Nico told him things.

Will half-smiled. “Thanks for telling me that, Nico. I know it wasn’t easy.”

Nico started to become keenly aware of all the people around them and how he was right in the middle of all of them, having a personal conversation like it was nothing. A swell of courage rose up inside him and he almost said something he probably would have regretted.

Instead he started towards the stairs and motioned for Will to follow. “Let’s go see some inaccurate depictions of our fathers chiseled in marble.”

“The sculpture section?”

“How’d you guess?”

Will grinned. He really did have an amazing smile.

The sculpture section was quieter than the painting wing. Everyone talked in hushed tones and the boys followed suit without thinking about it.

Eventually they found a sculpture by one of Michelangelo's followers called “Apollo and Marsyas.”

“That’s just gross,” said Will. “This guy took the time to carve a  detailed depiction of my dad’s junk into marble, but didn’t even finish that guy’s face all the way.”

Nico snorted. They had yet to find any sculptures of Hades and he was glad. He remembered what he had told himself earlier about sharing things more. “I like the bronze ones the most. They look like they’re made out of darkness.”

“How chipper.”

“I just mean the marble ones don’t have any personality. The messy ones and the dark ones are… somehow better. Don’t fight me on this, Solace, you know it’s true.”

“I like them, too, but I have respect for marble. They had to chisel all that out of a rock,” he said, pointing to a larger-than-life nude sculpture of Venus. Which was close enough to Piper’s mom that Nico felt morally obligated to look away.

Will’s favorites were the tiny bronze men on tiny bronze horses in glass cases.

“They’re so hilarious for some reason and I can’t figure it out!” Will said, laughing again at the bite-sized sculptures.

After wandering around the sculpture hall for another half hour, giving each of the art pieces new titles like, “Oops, I Got Stabbed!” and “I am a Pretty Lady who Enjoys Standing Nude for All Eternity”, Nico got a little tired of all the walking.

‘Alright, I think it’s time to go. Dinner will be soon,” he said.

“Aw,” complained a disappointed Will. Then his face lit up. “What if we don’t go back for dinner? We could eat somewhere in D.C.!”

Nico considered. It wasn’t like either of them had head counselors making sure they were at dinner. “That’s actually a really good idea, Will. Where do you want to go?”

“I’ve never been in this city except when you’ve taken me. All I know is the pizza cart in front of the White House.”

“And I haven’t been here since the forties. I don’t know where any food places are now. Let’s just wander until we find something.”  
They went back to the front of the gallery, stepped out the doors, and stopped.

“It’s pretty cold out here,” Will said, eyeing Nico’s jacket.

“Well damn, Will, I can’t control the weather.”

Will laughed. “Nice.”

That quote was one of the only ways Nico could relate to pop culture now, and when he finally had the chance to use it, it paid off. He had heard Percy use it with Annabeth once, and it had sort of stuck with the whole group. He was reasonably sure it was from a TV show.

They set out to find something to eat. Strolling through the streets, Will pointed. “Look!  A McDonalds!”

“Ew. No.”

“I thought you liked McDonalds. You go there all the time.”

Nico scoffed. “Oh yeah, I totally love a food that I associate with the worst time in my life. No, I only use it to summon the dead now.”

“Sorry. Hadn’t really thought about it like that.”

“It’s fine,” Nico said, crossing his arms to show that it was not fine.

Will looked at him for a long moment, then shrugged and kept walking. “How about Hard Rock Cafe? I heard there's one around here.”

“I don’t feel like walking that far.”

“You can shadow-travel.”

“I’m too tired to use “Underworldy stuff”, as you liked to call it way back when.”

“Oh, gods. Don’t remind me of myself after the war.”

“Why not?”

“I was so embarrassing. ‘Doctor’s orders.’ Who did I think I was? I mean, you really did need to stay in the infirmary, I guess it was fine, but-”

“Will, I liked you then and I like you now. Shut up.”

“Wait - what?”

“Huh?” Nico really didn’t want to repeat himself.

“Sorry. I misunderstood.”

“Okay. I guess.” Nico just needed food and this conversation was tedious. “Let’s just catch a cab to Hard Rock Cafe.”

One awkward cab ride later (where Will acted like it was some amazing thing to be driven by a stranger and forgot to get out his wallet until after the stop), they were there.

As they got out, Wil said, “Sorry. I’d never been in a cab before.”

“Suburbia boy.”

“City kid.”

Will opened the door for Nico, which he was sure was just a polite thing.

An unenthusiastic hostess with lots of tattoos and three lip rings showed them to a table and gave them menus. There was rock music playing and TVs were everywhere, showing music videos for whatever song was on the speaker.

“If you need anything, I’m here to help,” their waitress said in a tone that made it very clear that she would probably spit in their food for the heck of it.

“Thanks,” Will said with a smile that let her know he was the type of person who would tell the manager.

After this silent exchange that Nico watched with suspense, the waitress nodded and walked away.

They opened up their menus and Nico realized what was happening.

“Are we having dinner together?” he asked.

Will looked confused. “We have menus and a table; I was assuming so.”

“Huh,” Nico said. This was the closest to a date they had gotten yet and Will still seemed hesitant.

The boy in question was studying his menu, gaze intent on a picture of a milkshake.

“Do you want to split a chocolate shake?” he asked.

Nico remembered his promise to himself that morning to get Will to ask him out. He smiled.

This was going to be an interesting dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know. They'll get together soon, but making them painfully oblivious is so much fun. Hope you enjoyed! I love kudos and comments so much, even constructive criticism is great. Have a nice day/night!


	8. Dinner Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner dates and favorite songs ensue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I highly rec the songs mentioned in this chapter. Also I'll be posting another chapter today, too.

Will was a tiny bit nervous. Okay, he was so nervous there was a slight chance of him actually exploding, but that was besides the point. He and Nico were at an actual restaurant after touring an art gallery (both of which were very date-connotated) and the whole thing was too much to handle. This was it. He was going to tell Nico tonight. He would say the actual words he was too terrified to muster right now.

Attempting to find small talk fuel, he glanced at the menu again. “I think I’ll go for a grilled cheese. And what was the verdict on that milkshake?”

“Sure. As long as there’s whipped cream,” Nico said, his leg bouncing. Most demigods had to fidget, but Nico usually didn’t. Will let himself hope that he was nervous for their dinner, too.

Their waitress came back before Nico had an order ready. Will ordered his grilled cheese and their milkshake, but the son of Hades flipped to a random page in the menu and pointed. “I’ll have that,” he said, not even looking to see what it was.

She raised her eyebrows. “You want a ‘Buddy Jr’s Bangin’ Burger Kid’s Meal’?”

Nico looked her dead in the eye. “Yes.”

Will could barely contain his laughter. The waitress grunted and strutted away.

“You're hilarious,” said Will. “I don’t know if I could have done that with a straight face.”

Nico allowed himself a small smile. Then his serious demeanor broke and he started laughing. Will loved Nico’s laugh. It wasn’t cold or harsh the way he would have expected; it was instead melodic and comfortable and full of depth. Will liked getting that laugh out of Nico.

“I think that was the most ridiculously named kid’s menu item I’ve ever heard,” Nico said after his short laughing burst.

“I’m trying to think of something worse than that. How about the ‘Positively Peppy  Pepperoni Pipsqueak Pizza’?”

Now Nico could hardly breathe from laughing so hard. Will cheered himself on. Maybe he could pull off this whole ‘date’ thing after all. Even though it really wasn’t a date. That didn’t matter.

“So,” said Nico after he calmed down.

“So, “ Will replied. A question from earlier popped into his head. “Why did you think it was Piper coming to your cabin this morning?” He left out the part about Piper apparently giving Nico love advice.

Nico’s eyes went wide. “I was just tired. And sometimes Piper bursts into my cabin telling me what I should do so I thought....”

“What sorts of things does she tell you to do?”

“Stupid Aphrodite things. It’s nothing. What song is playing?”

“I have absolutely no idea.” Will knew Nico was changing the subject, but let it go, as it was none of his business.

The song question gave him an idea. “Nico, two years I’ve known you and I don’t know what kind of music you like. What’s up with that?”

Nico gave an awkward smile and looked at his plate. “Well, you have to understand that music was a lot different from how it is now, and-”

“Oh my gods. You totally like smooth jazz, don’t you?”

“I like big band more than jazz. But, yeah,” he coughed. “I do like jazz, too.”

“That’s just precious,” Will said, leaning back in his chair. He could see it now: the enthusiastic, dark-haired, and cheery nine-year-old version of Nico sitting on the floor, listening to Ella Fitzgerald.

“Well?” Nico prompted.

“What?”

“What sort of music do you like, now that I’ve completely embarrassed myself?”

Will’s first thought was to think of the coolest music he knew and talk about obscure bands, but this was Nico he was talking to. He didn’t need to do all that.

He let his chair legs fall back down to the ground. “I just like guitar. Acoustic or electric, I don’t really care. Oh, and ukulele and Hawaiian music. And violin. I guess I just like strings.”

“I’ve never heard much of that. We only ever had a few records.”

Maybe Will was imagining it, but it felt like Nico was opening up a bit. He decided to make good use of this lapse in barriers.

“What was your house like? Why didn’t you have many records?”

Nico’s face sort of twisted. “I don’t remember my house. I think I lived in one at one point, though. In Italy. We moved into a fancy hotel here in Washington, or so Chiron told me.” Nico shifted in his chair. “And at the boarding school, we weren’t allowed to make noise in our rooms, so I could only listen to quieter things.” He smiled. “I did have one record full of trumpets and drums and loud singing, though. I only ever played it on weekends when the headmaster was out.”

Will grinned and said, “You rebel.”

“Very funny. How do you listen to music? With an iPod?”

“Usually with my phone. I can’t believe it didn’t bring it any of the times we’ve been here. We could have taking selfies with Monet’s art!”

“It’s a shame,” Nico said. “What’s your favorite song?”

“That was abrupt.”

“Answer.”

“Okay, it’s ‘Song for You’ by Alexi Murdoch.” What Will didn’t tell him was that he associated Nico with it for some reason and often played it on repeat. Nico could find that out later.

“I have absolutely no idea who that is,” the son of Hades said. “Show it to me when we get back so I can hear it.”

“Will do. Why do you care, though?”

Nico looked at him like it should be obvious. “Because I like knowing things about you.”

“Oh.” Wil felt his face getting warm. “Ditto. You know my favorite song now, so what’s yours?”

“‘I’ll Never Smile Again.’ I don’t remember who it’s by.”

“Sounds cheerful.”

“Shut up, It’s a very nice song. I don’t remember it very well, though.”

“When’s the last time you heard it?”

“I don’t know. Late thirties, maybe.”

Will was flabbergasted. He listened to his favorite song at least five times every day and his friend hadn’t heard his in eighty years? “That’s unacceptable. We’re listening to it when we get back.”

Nico’s eyes were filled  with gratitude. “Thank you, Will. That’s… very sweet.” He looked down as if avoiding a basilisk’s gaze.

“You’re welcome. It’s no problem, I can just look it up online.” Something occurred to him. “You do know what the internet is, right?” Will hoped he did, because he didn’t know how to explain it.

“Annabeth sat me down one day and taught me a lot of technological things. Slowly but surely, I’m starting to understand how the internet works. But there’s no wifi at camp so I can’t borrow her computer to learn things online. How will you find my song?”

“A few magical things called an iPhone and data. I’ll explain it later.”

Their waitress returned with their food. Will was very happy with his grilled cheese and Nico was very happy with all the whipped cream on their shake.

Smirking, the waitress handed Nico the smallest order of a hamburger and fries Will had ever seen. “Enjoy your Buddy Jr’s Bangin’ Burger Kid’s Meal,” she said and left.

Will snorted. “I’m sorry, that is just the worst thing for you to have pointed to.”

“I think you mean best. Look, now I don’t have to worry about not finishing!”

“Was that a legitimate concern?”

“That jar and the pomegranate seeds sort of had a lasting effect on my appetite and metabolism. I don’t need that much food to stay healthy anymore and I get full fast.” He shrugged.

Hearing Nico talk so casually about his past trauma made Will both proud and concerned, but he figured the topic wasn’t the best to push while on a fake date.

They ate mostly in silence, peppered with the occasional, “This is really good,” or “I still can’t believe you ordered the most ridiculous-sounding thing on the menu.”

What a shock; Nico finished first. The demigod reached for the chocolate shake and used a spoon to scoop all the whipped cream onto his plate.

Will watched this in utter horror and Nico casually asked, “Oh, did you want some?”

“Sort of, yes.” Will had wanted at least half.

“Too bad. It’s mine.”

Will gasped in mock shame. Nico rolled his eyes.

As for sharing the shake, Will had hoped they could share it with two straws. Classic flirting, plus the possibility of them going in for sips at the same time and accidentally kissing or something. Okay, so that probably wouldn’t happen, but he’d be lying if he said it wasn’t kind of his master plan.

But Nico foiled it when he said, “I actually don’t really want the shake. You can have it. Sorry.”

“More for me,” he covered, taking a sip.

Nico had a small bit of whipped cream on the corner of his lips. Would it be weird to reach over and wipe it off? It would definitely send a strong message, that was for sure. It would be so cliché that it would probably loop around and become okay.

But just as he was about to go through with it, Nico licked it away himself. “Why didn’t you tell me I had whipped cream on my face?”

Will shrugged in inner turmoil. “I just didn’t notice.”

When they got the bill, Will’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “It was just a sub-par sandwich, a shake, and a kid’s meal! How expensive was all this to make?”

“I can summon some money from underground if you want,” Nico suggested.

“No, I’m paying,” said Will sternly. He fished out his wallet and handed over more than he would have liked, plus a tip.

After making sure they hadn’t left anything behind, the boys took one last look at all the famous music artifacts around them.

“I have no idea what any of these famous things are,” said Will.

“Me neither,” Nico replied.

“Let’s get out of here.”

“I agree.”

They stepped out into the cold. It really had gotten dark. Will found it a little soothing, a little scary.

“I could really use that jacket right about now.”

Much to Will’s surprise, Nico took it off and gave it to him without question.

Will put it on gratefully. “Thanks.” It was still warm from Nico’s body heat.

They walked for a ways before Nico said, “I sense some pretty powerful death around here.”

“Please don’t tell me there’s an axe murderer following us.” Will was only half-joking.

“No, you idiot. Ford’s Theatre is just over there.”

Will felt like he should remember that name. “Jog my memory.”

“It’s where Lincoln was shot. Across the street is where he died, I think. Let’s skip that today. We can talk to Lincoln’s ghost anytime and it’s getting cold.”

“Agreed.”

Nico held out his arm. Will grabbed his hand instead in another burst of courage like the one he had felt in the museum. Nico gulped but didn’t let go. He closed his eyes and they shadow-traveled back to camp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear they'll get together next chapter. Sorry for the wait. Also I live off comments so go ahead and do that. :)


	9. !!!!!!!!!!!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico frowns a lot and then smiles a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Instructions for reading this chapter:  
> 1\. Open up a new tab and pull up a youtube video called "I'LL NEVER SMILE AGAIN ~ Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra (1940).  
> 2\. Press play when Will plays it. Listen as you read the rest of the chapter.  
> 3\. Do it. For me?  
> Okay serious time guys, this might be the last chapter. I don't know. Decide if you'd want more and leave it in the comments! Also, I was squealing the entire time writing this chapter.

As luck would have it, Nico’s friends were nearby when they got back. They all gathered around to greet the two.

Piper started giggling. Annabeth turned red. Percy scratched his head. Jason coughed and smiled. Will felt a little awkward, as he didn't know any of them but Annabeth really well.

“What?” Nico asked, apparently not seeing what was going on.

Piper was giddy. “We’ve been waiting for years!”

“For what?” Will’s eyebrows knit together in confusion.

“Congrats,” Jason said.

“Am I missing something?” Will couldn’t figure out the situation.

It was only when he glanced at Nico that he started to put the puzzle pieces together.

“Is something wrong? You guys get in a fight or something?” Percy asked.

Annabeth's eyes were sympathetic. She whispered to Percy, “They probably did. We should leave.”

Piper looked astonished. “A fight? They’re literally holding hands! Be happy for them!”

Nico must have realized their hands were still linked (no interlocked fingers, but still amazing), because he dropped Will’s hand like it contained the Black Death.

It was then that Will spoke up. “You know we’re right here, right? And we can hear you?”

“We’re sorry, we didn’t mean to interrupt your date,” Jason said. “We’ll go. Won’t we?” he hissed to the others.

“Jason, I thought you knew better,” Nico said evenly. “You were there with me when the Cupid thing happened. You saw what that whole thing did to me.” 

Will was so confused.

It seemed Jason was, too. “Wait, what? Are we talking about the Thing We Agreed Not to Talk About? How is this like that? I’m trying to get us away so we won’t bother you anymore-”

“I just thought it was beneath you guys to make fun of me like that. Whatever.” Nico stormed off in the direction of the cabins.

Will apologized to Nico's friends for whatever that had been and ran after Nico. He didn't know what was going on, but his friend needed him right then. 

 

-

 

After Nico reached his cabin and slammed the door shut, he fell onto his bed and fell into a sort of child-of-Hades trance where he could only focus on whatever had gone wrong.

Or maybe that was a normal teenage thing. He didn’t care. His friends had known he was in a vulnerable spot and teased him about it, and that wasn’t okay.

There was a knock on the door.

He didn’t answer.

“Nico?”

That was Will’s voice, bright and full of concern. After a brief internal battle, Nico got up and swung the door open slowly.

“I don’t know what just happened or if you’re willing to tell me, “ Will said, giving a small, hopeful smile. He held up a phone. “But I brought your favorite song.”

Still standing in the doorway, Nico threw his arms around Will and held tight.

“Oh. Okay,” Will said.

“I know I haven’t told you much,” Nico said, still holding on and having to stand on the slightest of tiptoes. He let go and stepped back. “But I’m about to.”

Will nodded. “Can I come in?”

The son of Hades stepped back. “Make yourself comfortable.”

Will sat on the floor, criss-cross-applesauce.

“Okay,” Nico said, sitting next to him and leaning on the foot of his bed.

“Okay.”

“So, you know that whole quest the seven and I went on a few years back?”

“Mm-hm.”

“Well, there was a side track with Jason and some god called Flavonius or something like that, and long story short we had to get something or other from Cupid. And no, he’s not a little baby with tiny wings. He‘s scary.”

Nico took a deep breath. Last chance to turn back. 

He continued. “The whole thing was basically a huge ploy to get me to come out. I don’t know why he cared so much, but he essentially forced me out of the closet for fear of death.”

“One: That’s terrible. I’m sorry. And two: You’re not straight?” Will asked.

Nico hung his head. “No. But I’m sort of surprised you didn’t pick up on that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“We’ve been walking around D.C. holding hands, Will.”

“Huh. Well, I’m not either, if that helps.”

“Really? Have I just assumed?”

“Sort of, yeah.” Will laughed.

That had been way easier than he had expected. That’s when the gates opened: Nico told Will about everything from Bianca’s floppy hat to his time at Westover Hall to his former crush on Percy Jackson.

When he was done, he took a deep breath and said, “That was good. I needed to do that eventually.”

“I really appreciate you telling me all this, Nico. And if you’re ever wondering about me you can always ask. Okay?”

Nico nodded. “All of that is why I’m so mad at my friends. Because even though I finally feel like I can call them that, friends, I’m not really part of the group. And they knew - never mind.

"The point is they were making fun of me by acting like we were together and I hate it when people know where I’m vulnerable and then pounce. Like Cupid did."

He curled up And went on. "Tease me all you want about other things, just not that.” A few tears sprung to his eye; all this sharing was starting to get to him.

“Nico, I’m going to say something and you’re going to think it sounds weird, but they weren't making fun of you. I think they actually thought we were dating.”

“What?”

“We were holding hands and I was wearing your jacket. I think those would be pretty obvious signs to an outsider.”

Oh. That made a lot of sense. Nico was silent for a while. Then, “Can you play my song, please?”

“Yeah, absolutely.” Will pulled up Youtube. “What was it called again?”

“I’ll Never Smile Again. By somebody starting with a T. Can the internet figure it out?”

Will typed it the keywords and said, “Was it Tommy Dorsey who sings it?”

“Yes! Thank you, I’ve been trying to remember that for eighty years. Well, it only felt like five or six, but still. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Will pressed play. Nothing happened. “Buffering,” he explained. “It’s a thing and it’s evil.”

After a minute, the video started playing. It was just audio, which was fine.

 _I’ll never smile again_ , it played slowly.

“It’s just as peppy as I imagined.”

“Ssh. Listen.”

_Until I smile at you_

They listened for a while and Nico smiled. This song took him back to before the wars, before he even knew he was a demigod, back to the days of Mythomagic and wonder.

As it kept playing, Nico noticed Will kept looking over at him, as if making a decision.

_I’ll never love again_

Nico turned his head at the same time as Will. They really were sitting very close.

The video sang on: _I’m so in love with you_

Will’s bright blue eyes were full of warmth and nervousness. “Y’know, Nico, I’ve been thinking, and -” He took a shaky breath and smiled. “Would you ever want to go out on a real date? Like,” he cleared his throat. “as boyfriends?”

Nico’s heart stopped. This was happening. This was happening! He didn’t know how to respond. A ‘yes’ wouldn’t be enough.

So Nico answered in the only way he could think of.

He let his face get closer and ran his hand through Will’s golden hair. Giving himself one last look into those blue eyes, so beautiful, so full of anticipation, he tilted his head and let their lips touch. Just barely. Just enough to get Will to pull him closer and kiss him back.

Nico couldn't believe it. Was he really doing this? Was Will really reciprocating? He pushed closer and Will followed suit, putting his hands on Nico’s torso gently as if the demigod were some precious, breakable thing.

Nico’s mind went blank. His brain had dissolved into a never-ending stream of exclamation points and he was okay with that. He was okay with everything.

Will pulled away but kept their faces close. “Is that a yes on the boyfriend thing?”

Nico laughed and let their foreheads touch. “Yes, that is an affirmative on the boyfriend thing. Idiot.”

“Moron.”

Nico almost couldn’t kiss him again. He was smiling too much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay!! I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I had fun writing it. PLEASE let me know in the comments if you'd like this continued, because otherwise it's going to end here. Thanks so much, guys.


	10. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I tie up a few lose ends. Also I had to get the extra 710 words to make this exactly 15k.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this is the end. If you've been reading as it comes out, I've added hundreds of words to previous chapters and spellchecked them more, so you can check that out if you want. I'm so happy. So happy for these boys and so happy that I finally finished a fic. Thank you!

“Alright, campers. Are you ready to have your minds blown?”

A chorus of “Yeah!”s erupted.

“Okay,” Will said. “Nico di Angelo, the son of Hades, the Ghost King… kissed me. As in he leaned in first. He beat me to the punch.”

A couple of the pre-teen girls screamed. It was sort of a thing in the Apollo cabin to be very invested in each other’s love lives.

One of his brothers laughed. “You didn’t even initiate? That’s lame.”

“Hey,” Will defended. “I may not have kissed him, but I did ask him out.”

“You asked him out? Will, that’s huge! What did he say?”

“Well,” Will started to blush. “That’s sort of when he kissed me. But I had to clarify, I guess, so I asked again and he said yes.” Will couldn’t really believe this was happening. He never thought this day would come, but here he was, the insanely lucky guy who had actually kissed (!) Nico di Angelo and was now somehow going out with him.

“So, was that enough of a story or do you guys need more?” said Will.

“Tell us more!” they all exclaimed.

“Well, I can’t disappoint my campers.” He got comfortable and told them everything.

Everything was perfect.

-

It was a warm day, warmer than it usually got at camp. Will and Nico were lounging on the steps of the Hades cabin and had been in the middle of a captivating conversation concerning whether or not Nico should read Harry Potter.

“But they’re _so good_ ,” Will urged for the third time. Nico sighed.

The two were interrupted by a loud cough. Piper had made her way over from the Aphrodite cabin and looked expectantly at them.

“What?” Nico asked after the silence got awkward.

“I’m not going to pry and I’ll go away if you ask me to. But Nico, do you have anything you want to tell me?”

Nico glanced at Will. What was this about?

Will looked uncomfortable. He whispered, “You never apologized after blowing up at your friends last night.”

Oh yeah. “Gods. I’m sorry, Piper. And you can tell the others that I’m sorry to them, too. Or I can tell them when I see them.”

Piper nodded. “It’s fine, but what got you so angry? We were just happy for you guys.”

Nico looked to Will for help. Thankfully, the blond stepped in.

“You see, Piper, we weren’t actually together when you guys said that. And Nico thought you were making fun of him.”

“Oh man. Sorry, dude, that’s sort of understandable.” Piper looked down.

“It’s fine. We all reacted badly,” Nico piped up.

He took a deep breath and braced himself for what he was about to say. “You guys can can be excited for real this time. Will and I are actually dating now.”

Will glowed. Not literally, even though that was a thing known to happen. He took Nico’s hand (this time their fingers were locked) and faced Piper. “Yeah,” he agreed.

Piper laughed. “I mean, I sort of knew that. Love’s child and all that. But thanks for telling me; I have bragging rights for being the first to know.” She winked, something no one but her would do, and walked away.

The farther away she got, the more troubled Will looked.

“Is something wrong?” Nico asked, making an effort to talk more about feelings and things like that.

“It’s just that the night we accidentally showed up in the mess hall, I overheard you saying you didn’t like me at all. I spent the whole night bummed about it. So when did you start to like me? Yesterday?”

“What?” Nico spluttered, remembering that exact moment he had denied his crush to his friends. “I was lying, I’ve liked you since the war! Loser.” Nico left the cabin steps and sat on the grass, a little uncomfortable with all this sharing.

Will followed and sat next to him, saying, “I’ve liked you since the war, too.” He laid down, his hair fanning out like a halo.

Nico followed suit, the grass cool on his neck. “Looks like we’ve got a lot of lost time to make up for.”

They shared a kiss made of sunshine. Will took Nico’s hand again.

“How very true.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all folks! Thanks to everyone who commented and kudo'd and bookmarked and subscribed and whatever else you can do on here! My tumblr at the moment is (minus slashes) wis/es//tc/hild/ren if you ever want to talk (which I am totally open to. Just talk to me). I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. And I hope you have an amazing day and that you get to pet a cool dog. Thanks for reading!


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